In electrolytic processes, such as chlor-alkali electrolysis, or electrolytic galvanizing or chrome-plating of steel bands, strong currents of up to 18,000 A/m.sup.2 must be distributed uniformly over large electrode surfaces (up to 4 m.sup.2 in steel band galvanizing and up to 36 m.sup.2 in the chlor-alkali industry). In steel band galvanizing, the electrode surfaces are segmented titanium plates; the chlor-alkali industry uses expanded-metal wire screens or flat profiles, which are likewise segmented.
The current is fed into the electrolysis cell from outside via metals having good conductivity, such as copper, aluminum or steel; for this purpose, contact must be established between these highly conductive metals and the material of the anode, which as a rule is of titanium.
Since with anodic polarization, copper, aluminum or steel readily dissolves in the electrolytes typically used in industry, it is surrounded by a titanium protective sleeve that is tightly secured to the actual electrode body and carries the current supply conductor to the outside.
Such an arrangement is described in British patent 2,194,963. Here a titanium anode having a copper current feeder stud is connected via a titanium connection element that surrounds the lower end of the stud in sleeve-like fashion; the actual fixation between the current feeder stud and the sleeve-like connection element is achieved by means of a cast metal core.